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This year's Sì Sposaitalia Collezioni, which closed on 22 May 2017 at Fiera Milano City after 4 days of intense fashion and business, featured all the hottest trends: a return to romance, flower power and 1950s nostalgia, alongside audacious experiments with technical fabrics, playful hats, daring shoes and brightly coloured accessories.
Milano Bridal Week is increasingly becoming the international benchmark for professionals seeking originality and wishing to offer their customers the best in wedding fashion, with an expert blend of cutting-edge and timeless solutions.
And all this in an exciting 40th anniversary edition, marked by 8,040 professional visitors, including 2,006 foreigners from 67 different countries.Japan tops the ranking with 284 foreign buyers (+ 8%), followed by France (+ 23%), China (+ 35%), Spain (+ 35%) and USA (+ 9.5%). The number of buyers from Germany, Switzerland, Turkey and Russia remained stabled. The 2107 event marked the first-time attendance of operators from Qatar, Canada, and Kazakhstan.
Such positive results were made possible by the collaboration with ITA-ICE, Italian Trade Agency, which thus confirms its strategic role in promoting Italian products and the sector in general.
Buyers were particularly pleased with the show's cosmopolitan offering, with 210 collections on display (+10%) presented by exhibitors from countries with a strong bridal tradition and from interesting emerging markets such as Latvia.
In the words of the buyer Liz Sellassie, President of Designer Loft (New York): "Bridal shows are often repetitive and the collections all look the same. Here, however, there is an impressive variety of proposals, and all of exceptional quality. Alongside Italy's outstanding craftsmanship, we also have style offerings ranging from Scandinavia to the Far East."
Gabriela Rios, from the Sposa Bella chain (San Antonio, Texas), agrees: "This is the first time I take part in the show, and I really enjoyed the fashion shows, which gave me the opportunity to assess the clothes dynamically. Texas is a conservative market in terms of formal wear, but it is slowly opening up to new styles, and here I was able to pick up many new ideas to expand our offering."
According to Lamoon Shanghai (China), "Chinese brides change clothes 3 or 4 times on their wedding day. One is a traditional western-style white dress, and for this they turn to our boutique. We are situated in the former French area of the city, which is still quite westernised and follows European fashions. Here in Milan, we know we will find the quality our brides require."
The buyers' feedback is echoed in the exhibitors' satisfaction, in particular with the professional profiles of the visitors to the event. As Antonio Riva comments: "I am very pleased and extremely satisfied with the result of the 40th Sì Sposaitalia Collezioni, which gave me the opportunity to meet interesting buyers from all over the world, in a friendly and international setting."
"Sì Sposaitalia Collezioni confirms its role as the leading showcase in Italy, and one of the most important in the world, for bridal fashion," says Emiliano Bengasi. "This year, the show was accompanied by a fashion show, which made a big difference. We received a lot more positive feedback both from the media and from buyers, and we concluded important contacts with the United States, China, Korea and Eastern Europe."